Rice - To Mircowave or not to Mircowave...

Just defrosted a nice chili for tomorrow and Friday lunch. Knocked up a bit of rice to go with it too. Thing is I've heard conflicting things about reheating rice. Will it be OK to reheat the lot together or is it separate container time?

Oh and no one here is getting my bike if I die so honest answers please.

I thought the issue with rice was the slowness it naturally cools at if in a big lump and left at room temperature meaning nasties have plenty of time to multiply as it sits in the "danger zone". If you then don't reheat it thoroughly enough you don't kill em all off.

So cool it quickly after cooking by spreading it out a bit and putting in the fridge (or even freezer) to cool rapidly and you can then do what the hell you like with it.

As with all food, it's not the reheating that is the problem, it's the cooling down which is. The reason for this is that you generally reheat stuff and eat it fairly quickly afterwards, so there's not a great deal of time for any bacteria to multiply etc, whereas left over food can be hanging around for a good while at nice germ breeding temperatures if it's not cooled quickly enough.

However, saying that, I think the recommended times are something like to fridge temps within 90 mins... so unless the rice has been hanging around at room temperature for ages there really shouldn't be a problem.

Edit: am now trying to remember exactly what t'other half told me, but I don't think the bacteria which is the problem with rice is actually killed by the temperatures used in cooking, which is why cooling the rice quickly is important to stop it growing. Also, it's not the bacteria directly which is the problem, when it is cooled it forms a protective coating around it, which gets thrown off when reheated and it's this coating which is the horrible bit... or something like that.

Also, you should never really put hot/warm stuff in the fridge as it raises the fridge temperature... rice would probably be okay, but anything much bigger would warm the fridge up a good few degrees while it cools...

You can get food poisoning from eating reheated rice. However, it's not the reheating that causes the problem but the way the rice has been stored before it was reheated.

Uncooked rice can contain spores of Bacillus cereus, a bacterium that can cause food poisoning. When the rice is cooked, the spores can survive.
If the rice is left standing at room temperature, the spores can grow into bacteria. These bacteria will multiply and may produce toxins (poisons) that cause vomiting or diarrhoea.
The longer cooked rice is left at room temperature, the more likely it is that the bacteria or toxins could make the rice unsafe to eat.

Ideally, serve rice as soon as it has been cooked.
If that isn't possible, cool the rice as quickly as possible (ideally within one hour).
Keep rice in the fridge for no more than one day until reheating.
When you reheat any rice, always check that the dish is steaming hot all the way through.
Do not reheat rice more than once.